Useful honey bee

Honey bee is a very useful insect that should be made use of by our agricultural authorities, such as BIRRI and others. This piece of interesting information was available in the July issue of the Rotary magazine. This was learnt from the magazine that ancient poet Virgil used to store his valuables in a bee hive so that others could not safely get at it for fear of the sting!

 Honey is both a delicacy and a valuable preservative since time immemorial. It has been learned that Alexander the Great, when he died in Babylon, his body was sent home for burial in a coffin filled with honey. In the earlier decade, and even today, it is a useful cough suppressant; and many elderly women use it for new born babies having cough and cold. Actually it is as good, if not better than many popular cough medicines.

Interestingly, bees are primary source of fertilising agricultural crops with pollen. In the USA, around US$ 200 billion worth of annual agricultural crops are pollinated by bees! Over thirty per cent of all nuts, fruits and food grains that are cultivated in the USA are pollinated by bees! It is estimated that around eighty per cent of flowers, fruits and food grains are pollinated round the world by bees!

Not many people are aware of the role bees play in the output of fruits, vegetables and other grains in Bangladesh. What is the role in this regard by the country's agricultural  departments and the many NGOs here? There has never been any news about this important role of honey bee. Isn't it pertinent that the print and electronic media do some advocacy campaign to inform the people about the usefulness of honey and honey bees?

Based on an article from 'The Rotarian' (July'14); published by Rotary International, USA. S.A.Mansoor sam@dhakacom.com